Coons embraces Del. tax decision

Cognizant that his decision to raise taxes as a county executive will become fertile ground for Republican attacks, Delaware Senate candidate Chris Coons is attempting to soften the potential blow by embracing the move and explaining it as fiscally responsible.

The New Castle County executive said the 10-3 vote he helped engineer in May to pass a budget without a deficit included deep spending cuts and a $100 property tax increase.

He also identified it as the top piece of opposition research that would be leveraged against him but said that openly explaining the details would prove to be the best counterpunch.

Coons said he would answer the charge, potentially in television ads, with the message that the balanced budget he crafted delivered his county a Triple A bond rating and a $47 million dollar reserve without a deficit for the first time in a decade. The plan also included an $1,800 pay cut for the county’s 1,450 employees, which prompted public employee unions — a traditional Democratic constituency — to protest outside of Coons’ home.

“By explaining it, by saying, are you kidding me? Really? That’s it? So in other words, I should’ve laid off cops, closed down libraries, sold parks instead of raising taxes a hundred bucks a year?” Coons said, formulating his answer to expected tax hike attacks.

“What the average Delawarean wants is, spend my money well. Cut first, then if you’ve got to raise a little bit, OK. But I do not ever hear people complain that our tax burden is too high,” he added.

Asked if his local tax hike translated into voting for higher taxes as a senator, Coons became less candid but did not take the option off the table.

“I would be open to cutting spending first. ... We’ve got to restore fiscal discipline federally,” he said, hedging on the tax question.

Coons has recently taken aim at Castle for altering his approach to federal earmarking during an election year but said the driving argument against the nine-term congressman would be his votes over the years to deregulate the banking industry.

“Here’s a guy who for 18 years voted for every banking deregulation bill, very heavily supported financed by Wall Street,” said Coons, noting the financial job losses that occurred in The First State during the economic collapse. “It has huge resonance in our state.”

One of Coons’ biggest challenge will be persuading members of his own party to vote for a newcomer over Castle, a popular former governor who usually captures 65 percent of the vote during his reelection efforts and has built a reputation as a likable moderate deal broker.

Coons said he’ll attempt to amplify the rightward tilt of the national GOP and educate voters about Castle’s support for the anti-abortion Stupak amendment during the health care debate and his opposition to repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that only allows gays to serve in the military if they don’t disclose their sexual orientation.

“You’re right, they have a generally positive view of him. They generally think he’s a moderate. When you talk to people about his actual record, it is more conservative than they think or than they’re comfortable with,” he said.

“Republicans in Congress have very low approval. Simply reminding people that he is the Republican congressman and I am a Democrat moves people significantly. It’s surprisingly how much that moves people in the polls. This is not a state where I need to run away from being a Democrat.”

Castle campaign manager Mike Quaranta declined to respond to Coons’s argument, saying in a statement, “"Voters know that Mike Castle's record of independent, pragmatic decision-making reflects the interest of the residents of Delaware alone. As one of the few legislators able to build bridges and work with anyone in order to find common ground, Castle's manner reflects what voters want more of in Washington.”

A late April Rasmussen Reports poll gave Castle a 23-point lead over Coons.